Below is the application for the City of Buffalo's Better Buffalo Transit Oriented Development Fund. If you have a Transit Oriented Development project in mind, apply using this application.
Ben Ross, author of Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism, will be appearing at Talking Leaves Bookstore, 3158 Main Street, on Wednesday, October 1, at 5:00 p.m. to speak about his book and to sign copies.
In conjunction with the Citizens' Regional Transit Corporation, Talking Leaves Books is pleased to announce an appearance by Benjamin Ross, author of Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism (Oxford University Press). Mr. Ross will give a brief talk and then autograph copies of the book on Wednesday, October 1, at 5 pm at Talking Leaves…Books on Main Street. The event is free and open to the public; copies of the book will be available for purchase. Anyone wishing to have a book signed is expected to purchase it from Talking Leaves, as an act of support and respect for the author and the store hosting his talk.
More than five decades have passed since Jane Jacobs wrote her classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and since a front page headline in the New York Times read, "Cars Choking Cities as 'Urban Sprawl' Takes Over." Yet sprawl persists, and not by mistake. It happens for a reason.
As an activist and a scholar, Benjamin Ross is uniquely placed to diagnose why this is so. Dead End traces how the ideal of a safe, green, orderly retreat where hardworking members of the middle class could raise their children away from the city mutated into the McMansion and strip mall-ridden suburbs of today. Ross finds that sprawl is much more than bad architecture and sloppy planning. Its roots are historical, sociological, and economic. He uses these insights to lay out a practical strategy for change, honed by his experience leading the largest grass-roots mass transit advocacy organization in the United States. The problems of smart growth, sustainability, transportation, and affordable housing, he argues, are intertwined and must be solved as a whole. The two keys to creating better places to live are expansion of rail transit and a more genuinely democratic oversight of land use.
Dead End is, ultimately, about the places where we live our lives. Both an engaging history of suburbia and an invaluable guide for today's urbanist, it will serve as a primer for anyone interested in how Americans actually live.
Anyone who attended or followed the news surrounding June’s Congress for New Urbanism Conference will find this talk interesting and informative.
Benjamin Ross was president of Maryland's Action Committee for Transit for 15 years, which grew under his leadership into the nation's largest grass-roots transit advocacy group. He is a consultant on environmental problems and served on committees of the National Academy of Sciences and EPA Science Advisory Board. He writes frequently on political and social topics in Dissent Magazine and is the author of The Polluters: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment.
For more information, Jonathon Welch, 716.837.8554, tleavestleavesbooks.com
This is the CRT newsletter for September 2014.
These comments were submitted as public comments to the Board of Directors of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation on September 24, 2014.
The fundamental problem with the process is that it does not allow adequate ability for the public to voice concerns and ask questions. Without meaningful public engagement the plan will not reflect public desires for the use of this public land, and it will not benefit from the expertise of organizations knowledgeable in important issues relating to development of the Outer Harbor. For example, relegating public comments at meetings to “yellow stickies” and informal small group discussions does not provide an effective means for the public to raise questions, and does not require the ECHDC and its contractor to respond publicly, on the record. This short circuits the openness of the process and leads to results not fully reflective public views. We want a chance to publicly express our views and to be informed by the views of other groups and citizens. The ECHDC should want this too. We hope that the next public meeting will allow public comments and discussion of issues, and will provide a forum for the ECHDC to respond publicly. Microphones should be available for this purpose.
Also, we are concerned that the preferred plan calls for significant mixed-use development on the Outer Harbor. One ECHDC representative after the meeting said that this could include apartments for 4,000 to 6,000 people. Here are our concerns and questions about this aspect of the plan.
1. Infrastructure costs. What are the costs of the new infrastructure (e.g., roads, sewer, water, electrical)? Will developers pay for these facilities? Who will be responsible for maintaining them in perpetuity? The City of Buffalo? Erie County? New York State? We believe this is just more sprawl that will take more tax dollars to maintain. We should invest in improving our existing infrastructure (e.g., fixing our antiquated sewer system, extending the light rail) rather than building new infrastructure. Investment in new mixed-use development would be better made in the Cobblestone District or First Ward; locations that have existing infrastructure, space for development, and are near the inner and Outer Harbors.
2. Transportation. More development on the Outer Harbor will require more transportation facilities to be developed and maintained. As we stated at the recent ECHDC Board Meeting, we strongly support the planned ferry as a way to get to and from the Outer Harbor. This is affordable and perfect for low-density uses such as a park and hiking trails, perhaps supplemented by a fun people mover like the tram at Niagara Falls and / or bike rentals. The presentation called for extending the light rail to the Outer Harbor. As a transit advocacy organization, we strongly support extending the light rail, but not to the Outer Harbor. We believe there are higher priorities for extending the light rail where ridership will be greater. Every NFTA study over the last 40 years (and there have been many) identifies the airport and Amherst extensions as the highest priority extensions in terms of ridership and need. The light rail can comfortably carry up to 600 people every 10 minutes. What uses and activities on the Outer Harbor are envisioned to require such high-volume transit? We believe a lower volume, less expensive approach (like the ferry) is better. We also believe the light rail should be extended through the DL&W Terminal and along the old DL&W right-of-way (ROW) toward Riverbend and Larkinville. This NFTA-owned ROW could serve new mixed-use developments in the Cobblestone District and First Ward and could eventually be extended to provide the long-dreamed of and badly needed airport extension.
3. Unique resource. The Outer Harbor is one of the few remaining large open spaces on the Great Lakes. Once lost to development, it will be lost forever. The location of this resource next to a major city makes it well suited for recreational uses. Olmsted recommended a waterfront park for Buffalo but it was never built. We agree with those calling for a park on the Outer Harbor. Large portions of the park can be left in a natural state to minimize the cost of maintenance, while providing a sanctuary for wildlife and people looking to escape the sights and sounds of the built environment.
Thank you for considering these inputs. We hope the ECHCDC will provide a public forum soon where these and other issues can be raised and discussed publicly.
From https://onlinempa.unc.edu/5-largest-us-public-transit-systems-inforgraphic/ (1.9MB in size)
Credit: MPA@UNC
